Marc Cavell, Michael Canter being his real name, was born in London en 1911. He studied painting at the Academy of the School of Arts and Crafts and exhibited for the first time in 1936 at the Whitechapel Art Gallery. He came to Paris in the late 30's to complete his artistic training, enrolling at the Academy Julian and the Academy Ranson. His early works are characterized by a figuration inspired by Cézanne. He then explored the post-cubist formulas under the direction of Albert Gleizes. With Picasso, he was introduced to textiles and ceramics. The curious and eclectic artist then explored the infinite possibilities of optical and kinetic arts. In Painting and its Laws, published in 1924, Albert Gleizes wrote “Painting is animating a flat surface; animating a flat surface is giving rhythm to a space.”. Questions about movement and matter are already there. 

Between 1955 and 1966, he undertook an experience focused on light and movement. The driving force, light, is the real raw material of he operates the changing effects of light to give life to works of infinite aesthetic and emotional possibilities. Large or small sizes, Cavell's works deploy a play of shadows and light, sometimes colorful, vibrating, intersecting and intertwining on the surface of the table, thanks to the passage of light. These "light sculptures" are open compositions that induce the viewer to contemplation and even fascination.